Finance & real estate
Backup and disaster recovery for housing corporations
Mindtime backs up the servers, databases, Microsoft 365 and laptops behind your letting, repairs and finance processes into its own data centres in the Netherlands and Germany. With Disaster Recovery, standby infrastructure is ready to take over when your own environment cannot.
In Dutch, German or English.
- NL · DEStored only in our own Tier III data centres in the Netherlands and Germany
- ImmutableObject Lock storage plus an air-gapped copy; every backup job is checked
- ISO 27001 · NEN 7510Audited security, with a data processing agreement in every contract
- NL · DE · ENSupport from people, no offshore call centres or chatbots
In short
Housing corporations need backup and disaster recovery because letting, repairs and rent collection stop when core systems go down, and the Autoriteit woningcorporaties looks at their risk management. Mindtime keeps immutable copies, including an air-gapped one, in its own data centres in the Netherlands and Germany and tests disaster recovery every quarter.
What's at stake
The data housing corporations (woningcorporaties) can't afford to lose
Tenant and letting files
Tenancy agreements, allocation decisions, rent changes and the correspondence with each household. Tenants, municipalities and the supervisor expect these to be complete.
Repairs and maintenance data
Repair requests, contractor orders, inspection reports and the maintenance planning for every unit. Without them, you get repeat visits, missed work and unhappy tenants.
Financial records and accountability
Rent receivables, the multi-year budget and the documents behind your annual accounts. The Aw calls the multi-year budget its most important instrument for turning housing tasks into concrete targets.
Rules and obligations
What the rules ask of housing corporations (woningcorporaties)
Summarised from the sources listed at the bottom of this page. This is general information, not legal advice.
Supervision by the Autoriteit woningcorporaties
The Autoriteit woningcorporaties (Aw), part of the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT), supervises housing corporations under the Woningwet. Its focus includes financial continuity, integrity and risk management, governance and lawfulness. [1]
Retention: seven years, ten for property data
The Belastingdienst requires businesses to keep their administration for seven years. Data on immovable property and rights to immovable property must be kept for ten years. [2]
Cameras in and around your buildings
A housing association that films residents and visitors processes their personal data. Images may be kept no longer than necessary; footage of an offence such as theft may be kept until the matter is resolved. [3]
Housing is not a Cyberbeveiligingswet sector
Housing is not among the sectors the NCSC lists in the annexes of the Cyberbeveiligingswet, the Dutch NIS2 law. A corporation that also carries out an activity in a listed sector should check its position with the NCSC's scope guidance. [4]
When it goes wrong
Ransomware on the virtual servers
Illustrative example: a mid-sized housing corporation is hit by ransomware that encrypts its virtual servers, including the database behind its ERP. Repair requests can no longer be logged and the monthly rent collection is due. Because the Mindtime backups are immutable and stored off-site, the attackers could not reach them. Using the standby infrastructure from Disaster Recovery, the corporation brings clean systems up in an isolated environment, checks them for malware and resumes letting and repairs while the original environment is investigated.
How Mindtime protects it
Backup for housing corporations (woningcorporaties), workload by workload
- Disaster RecoveryLetting, repairs and rent collection need a tested way to keep running when your own data centre or servers are down.
- VMware and Hyper-V backupMany corporations still run their own virtual servers for applications and file shares.
- Database backupERP and reporting databases on SQL Server or Oracle need consistent, checked backups.
- Microsoft 365 backupTenant and contractor correspondence runs largely through Exchange, Teams and SharePoint.
- Laptop and endpoint backupField staff collect inspection notes and photos on laptops and phones.
The software you use, and what we protect around it
| Tobias AX (Aareon) | ERP for housing corporations, also offered as SaaS. If you use the SaaS version, check Aareon's export and retention terms; if it runs on your own servers, Mindtime backs up those servers and their databases. |
|---|---|
| Dynamics Empire (Cegeka) | ERP built on Microsoft Dynamics NAV technology with housing-specific functions. Where its database runs on your own SQL Server, Mindtime backs up that database and the server. |
| Microsoft 365 | Tenant correspondence, Teams and SharePoint sites for projects and neighbourhoods. Mindtime backs up the tenant to its Dutch and German data centres. |
| VMware or Hyper-V | The virtual servers that host your own applications, file shares and databases. Mindtime backs up the virtual machines and can keep standby infrastructure ready for failover. |
| Laptops and phones of field staff | Inspectors and caretakers record findings and photos on the move. Mindtime's endpoint backup covers laptops and mobile devices. |
Before you switch
What housing corporations (woningcorporaties) ask us first
Our ERP supplier hosts the system and makes the backups.
Then the ERP is covered by your supplier's terms, and only the ERP. Mail, file shares, field staff's laptops and any servers you still run yourself are outside that backup. Mindtime protects those with immutable copies; for the hosted ERP, check the export and retention terms in your contract.
Disaster recovery sounds like a long project.
It does not have to be. Mindtime sets up standby infrastructure and the first test failover typically takes place within 10 days. After that, disaster recovery is tested every quarter, so you know the plan works instead of hoping it does.
Does tenant data end up outside the EU?
No. Mindtime keeps data only in its own Tier III data centres in the Netherlands and Germany, audited against ISO 27001 and NEN 7510. Every contract comes with a data processing agreement, and admin actions are protected with MFA.
FAQ
Questions about backup for housing corporations (woningcorporaties)
Does the Cyberbeveiligingswet apply to housing corporations?
Housing is not one of the sectors listed for the Cyberbeveiligingswet, the Dutch NIS2 law that took effect on 15 August 2026, so most housing corporations are outside it. If your organisation also runs an activity in a listed sector, check the NCSC's scope guidance. The GDPR (AVG) applies to tenant data either way.
What should a housing corporation's backup cover?
Everything you would need to keep letting, repairs and finance going: ERP databases you host yourself, virtual servers and file shares, Microsoft 365 mail and SharePoint, and the laptops and phones of field staff. For SaaS systems, check what the supplier keeps and how you can export it.
What is the difference between backup and disaster recovery?
A backup lets you restore data after it is lost or damaged. Disaster recovery keeps standby infrastructure ready, so your systems can run elsewhere while your own environment is down. Mindtime offers both, with quarterly DR tests and the first test failover typically within 10 days of starting.
Can our IT partner manage this for us?
Yes. MSPs that work with Mindtime get a multi-tenant console, pay-as-you-grow billing, REST APIs and hooks, and white-label options. Your IT partner can run the backups day to day, while Mindtime's own team supports them in Dutch, German or English.
See it with your own data
Book a 15-minute demo
We show you a backup and a restore, and answer your questions in Dutch, German or English. No offshore call centres, no chatbots.